Say Your Dreams Out Loud

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Last month on NBC’s Sunday Today with Willie Geist, actor Keegan-Michael Key suggested saying your dreams out loud. “It’s a daring thing to do, but sometimes you should just say your dreams out loud. And you never know … they could just come true,” he says. For 2021, this might be a great way to give this new year a running start. I know we’re well into January already but now is as good as time as any, maybe even better.

Do You Even Have Dreams?

I’m not talking about dreams you have while sleeping, but dreams for the future. Who do you want to be? What do you want to happen? Where do you want to go? How are you planning on getting there? These are all important questions that you must consider in order to have a reason to look forward to and work towards the future. Whatever your current situation, having a vision for the future helps you navigate current challenges and plot a course towards that future. Without dreams, you’re simply being reactive and handing over your fate to the whim of the universe.

Saying your dreams out loud can be an intimidating task if you let it. It’s best done in the presence of others but that opens you up to the fear of failure, ridicule, or embarrassment. Using a trusted friend or compassionate family members can help allay those fears and their involvement can offer useful feedback and support. Saying your dreams out loud in the presence of others makes your intentions public which can also have the benefit of getting you credit for what you’ve accomplished. My father gave me two important pieces of advice: 1) When you fail, learn from the failure, and put it behind you — move on and start afresh. 2) If YOU don’t tell people what you’ve accomplished, you won’t get the credit you deserve.

These two things take practice getting used to stepping out of your comfort zone, but they become easier to do if you have established a context for your life — by saying your dreams out loud.

How to Improve the Odds of Success

Let’s talk first about how to avoid humiliation or embarrassment. First, unless you are participating in a public activity such as starting a company or writing a blog, don’t just post your dreams on social media platforms. This is not a recipe for success and support. People can be jealous, negative, or just plain mean and those comments won’t encourage you to pursue your goals. If you are starting a business, writing a blog, or something else, then sharing your dreams publicly can help people understand and buy into your vision, and solicit important feedback and suggestions. You just need to be prepared to take the negative with the positive. Now, this all begs the question of what is my dream with respect to my blogs, which hopefully I’ve answered in my About pages.

Begin with a self-assessment of who are your trusted friends and family or simply start within your own direct family unit. Start with a small group, encourage others to share their dreams along with you, and plan to occasionally check-in (once or twice a year) with each other to provide encouragement, address obstacles, and track progress. Importantly, remember to take time to do your own assessment of where you stand. Dreams are not fixed in stone (nor should they be) and you should expect them to change as time passes. Yes, there are people who know exactly what they want to be when they grow up at age 5 but they are few and far between. Personally, I’m still figuring it out.

So start working on those dreams and stay positive. The future is in out hands I hope. Tell me what you think in the comments!

I’m not putting any advertising on this blog or my other blog, Caring For a Spouse. I hope that if you appreciate my efforts, you’ll buy me a coffee through my ko-fi account. Simple and safe, any small contribution helps me offset the cost of hosting, etc. And it’s all virtual so we’re automatically social distancing!